My Trike Adventure

Sometimes it is hard to hold up the Valkyrie when Cookie is on it with me
and she has gotten nervous about it and has been on me to trike out the
Valkyrie since she thinks I am going to drop and crush her with the
Valkyrie. I thought she was more adventurous than that. The things you learn
about people.

I finally got tired of hearing it and told her it would be like making a
race horse pull a wagon to trike it and I would not do it. We decided to
look for a Volkswagen trike since they are not as expensive as a Goldwing.

I have been looking at ads and calling people all over about their trikes
and most are junk and overpriced and some just overpriced. Most of the
trikes to be found are in Florida, California and Arizona for some reason.

I located one in California that claimed to have a recently rebuilt motor,
lots of various new parts and in excellent shape. The price was reasonable
and the photos looked good. I spoke to him a few times and he told me he was
getting to old to ride and it was just too fast for him and he was getting
rid of it. I tell him I will come and get it and since I am coming from
Houston, it will take a few days to get there. He tells me I wont be
disappointed with it.

I know people that have trailers in Houston, but don't want to pull one all
that way. I talk to Bill on the phone and he offers to loan me a trailer and
I tell him thanks, but no thanks.

The A/C in my truck is not working and I have been too cheap to fix it. Off
through the desert I go. It is fucking hot. Luckily my windows will roll
down so I can get plenty of hot dry air on me.

Driving makes my back hurt extra bad and I have to stop a lot.

My angina decided to be more assertive and I am taking nitrates and putting
the nitro patches on so I don't die and mummify in the desert.

I had so many patches on, I looked like a 2 year old that got into the
Band-Aids. Those things will open the vessels in your brain as well and give
you a kick ass headache. That is to let you know you have not died yet. They
also sting if you put them on sensitive skin like your neck. It felt like
fire ants stinging the shit out of me, but death is not an option, so I
leave them on.

It was a fucking miserable, hot, lonely and expensive trip in my gas
guzzling Toyota pickup.

Since I had the windows down, I get to smell El Paso and breathe the dust.

When I got to New Mexico, there are 20 miles or so of feed lots and the cow
shit permeates everything. A lot of dust comes up from the lots and it is
pure, fine cow shit odor that clings to everything. The speed limit is low
in the area and you are toxic when you get through it. It is caked in my
nose and wont come out.

I get to Phoenix and it stinks worse than New Mexico or El Paso.

I am thinking what the ****! It is miserably hot, not a tree in sight and
stinks worse than anything.

Why in the hell would anyone live here I ask myself. I finally decide that
if I get a ticket I don't care, I am getting out of here and break out of
the freeway traffic at speed go around everybody. I suddenly notice the
smell is gone.

What is going on? I look around and I see a truck that I just passed that
said Mrs. Fenwick's or some such on it that made it look like a bakery truck
or something. But on closer inspection, it was a truck that picked up dead
animals to take to the rendering plant and was disguised. It was one
stinking S.O.B. I felt bad for thinking the people in Phoenix were a bunch
of dumb fucks for living where it is hot and stinking.

A few hotel stays and lots of gas and bad road food, I make it to California
to get my trike. It looks great as I pull up.

I look a little closer and a lot of the chrome is pealing. I can fix that.

We start it and it runs rough, but I can fix it. I am still a pretty good
mechanic knowledge wise.

He tells me the clutch need adjusting and I find that to be true since it
wont go into gear. I can fix that.

I crawl under it to adjust the clutch and I can't adjust it enough to drive
it. OK, I can still fix everything and break even I think.

I start matching vin and engine numbers. I locate the vin, but not the
engine. I call Louie in Texas to help me locate it. He tries real hard to
help me, but I never find it.
I scrape a lot of grease and oil off the engine that has a recent rebuild
looking for the number. I decide the recent rebuild was a long, long time
ago and the exhaust was sucking back. I can fix that.

He tells me that the list of new parts that were installed in the rebuild
and new clutch that was put in, he no longer had. He threw it away he says.
He finally confesses he has never ridden the trike and just bought it to
resale. He had plenty of chances to tell me that on the phone, but neglected
to do so.

I am hot, tired and sucking down nitro pills by now. I am way the **** in
California to pick up a trike that was nothing like I was told. My friend
Greg tells me not to pistol whip him due to it being California and all.

I am weighing all my options and decide I can fix everything and not get too
upside down since I am already there. I go to the bank and get money. I go
to U-Haul and they will not rent me a one way trailer other than an enclosed
one for 500 dollars and my ears start bleeding.

The have lots of open trailers, but wont let me take one to Texas and tell
me none of the dealers will.

I called U-Haul in Texas before I left and they did not have a problem with
me taking one to California and leaving it, so I assumed I could get one
there and bring to Texas. No, hell no!!. I could have put it in the enclosed
trailer, but with my ears bleeding and all, I decide I need to get out of
California as soon as possible.

It was miserably hot coming home empty handed.

My ears are still bleeding, and somewhere in New Mexico, my ass tightened up
so much I can't take a crap now either.

Jerry

 

Jerry, if I were you, which I'm obviously not, but before
I struck out on such a trip again, I'd be asking some much
more poignant questions.

It doesn't sound like you've got any business driving acro-
ss country chasing misrepresented vehicle(s).

Realizing some of these clowns couldn't aim a video cam-
era if their life depended on it, but you could ask for a
detailed video show of the vehicle saved somewhere like
Youtube.


Gary


Check out these:
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/volkswagen_news/article_1647.shtml
http://richmond.craigslist.org/mcy/384201749.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hond...ryZ50011QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hond...ryZ50011QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...ryZ10062QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://dallas.craigslist.org/car/387526556.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/car/364179673.html
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/car/395052688.html
http://bike-exchange.com/display_picture.php?ref=13070713&adtype=n
http://bike-exchange.com/display_picture.php?ref=19070737&adtype=n
http://bike-exchange.com/check_updates.php?ref=13020706&adtype=n
http://bike-exchange.com/check_updates.php?ref=04020705&adtype=n
http://www.azcarsandtrucks.com/2000vwtrike.html
http://www.bargainmartclassifieds.com/details.aspx?adid=29449806&ref=oo
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...emQQcategoryZ10062QQihZ012QQitemZ220138749758
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...emQQcategoryZ10062QQihZ001QQitemZ110157270958
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...emQQcategoryZ10062QQihZ008QQitemZ180147771687
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cust...008QQitemZ180148614752QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...n"++"trike"++"sale"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...n"++"trike"++"sale"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...n"++"trike"++"sale"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=25&gl=us

 

Jerry, a good writeup and very funny. Well maybe not funny to the
participant.

Get that Voyager kit that offers quick install and remove, around $4000.

....louie

 

I'm sure glad to see you back home and posting again.. That was some kind of
trip, you just made..

Too bad that it was a disappointment, like that.. Reads kinda like you'll be
recov-
ering from it for a few days..

Could be that your decision not to buy the trike, was a good one.. From your
des-
cription.. that was a money pit.. There'll be another one come along,
though.. if
you are determined to get a trike.. We are seeing more of those things on
the
road and they are being bought and sold..

Regards, Jerry.. See you soon..

Bill Walker
Irving

 

Thanks for the links Gary. My life has been characterized by needless risks,
and I am not sure I want it any other way. It was a risk that did not pay
off, but it could have. After it was over, my friend Greg reminded me that
when he bought his Porsche that was across the country, he hired a company
to check it out for him before purchase. That would have been the right
thing for me to do as well.

I think I was in Arizona when I told my bride that if I ever did anything
this stupid again, to have me committed. We would not want to deprive her of
confessional moments like that would we?

 

Hell, you gotta laugh.

It is a Voyager Kit that Cookie has tried to get me to put on the Valkyrie
for over a year. I hate those things and would not be caught dead on a
Voyager kitted bike.I would rather take an ax to my beloved Valkyrie and
give it a dignified end instead of put one of them on it.

A Volkswagen that I can stuff some horsepower into is what I need.

 

It was a long trip and I was sure glad to get home in one piece. Yeah, the
bike was a bad deal compared to what it was being sold as. I could have
fixed everything, but after the U-Haul deal, I decided it was a sign for me
to cut and come home. The trike had a lot of potential, with its custom
built frame and suspension and body. If he had presented it as it was in the
first place, I would have bought it.

When I recover from this, I am coming up for burgers and pie.

Take care,
Jerry

 

DAMN!!!!!!!!!

 

Damn good ride report.Sorry I missed it.Sounded like a real adventure.

 

"I would rather take an ax to my beloved Valkyrie and
give it a dignified end instead of put one of them on it."

I am Dignified.Always remember that Jerry.

 

<grin> Well pard.. I got this to say.. You made the trip and "right, wrong
or
indifferent".. you did it your way.. No one can ask for more than that..

hmmm.. The "adventure" was worth the risk and even as tired as you might
be.. there's a lot of people who'll never realize the self satisfaction that
be-
longs to you, after the fact..

The old friend of mine in Arizona called me and reported that you had
touched base when you were passing through.. That really made his day
and he chuckled constantly while he shared ya'lls' conversation.. As you
may have gathered since meeting him.. he and I have a history of taking
so many risky plunges that most men would never experience.. No matter
how those "plunges" turned out.. good and/or bad.. we never looked back
other than recalling those experiences as being another part of where we
have been.. Whew.. this is getting profound..

Anyway.. see you soon and take care till then..

Bill Walker

 

Ed Hart responds: ''Jerry,damn good ride report.Sorry I missed
it.Sounded like a real adventure.''


Ed, what part are you truly sorry you missed????

B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
02 Valkyrie Cruiser--
( happy trails to you all)

 

Jerry said earlier: ''I would rather take an ax to my beloved Valkyrie
and give it a dignified end instead of put one of them on it." jerry)

Say Jerry;
I am Dignified.Always remember that.



hey...Ed, wasnt that last Bike Louie had, a Voyager? I didn't know you
could crossBreed them thangs.....what are they talking aout...??..<g>

B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
02 Valkyrie Cruiser--
( happy trails to you all)

 

Jerry said: ‘‘It was miserably hot coming home empty handed.’’


Lordy, lordy,the above is one of the saddest conclusive ''comments''
I've ever read on this group. (lawdy mercy-----bj)

B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
02 Valkyrie Cruiser--
( happy trails to you all)

 

Conception never took.

 

C'mon Sunny ..... email harvest or some form of Scam

A trike like that would be around 28,000, and weigh about 4 times what the
ad shows

The same person also has these bargains

2005 HARLEY-DAVIDSON
Model : Softail Deuce FXSTDI
1490 miles, like new $6000
located in New York

2005 Hayabusa
Mileage : 2,119
$5,000
located in New York

I'm buying all 3

...louie

 

< grinnin' like a Redneck Bjay> Aw. c'mon, Louie.. You
just ain't no fun, anymore.. Jeez..

Bill Walker

 

Sunny, if you know of some trike for sale and can give me leads, I would
appreciate it very much.

Jerry

 

You are the most dignified man I know Ed. I remember how dignified you were
when the buzzard attacked you.

 

Bill, the only real regrets I have is that I spent all that gas money and
came back empty handed. I am like the alcoholic that forgets why he quit
drinking and does it again. I am ready to go again.

I called Buddy when I was going through Casa Grande and him being sick and
all, it was hard for him to get his head around where the hell I was. I kept
telling him that I was coming over to ride his Harley since he could not. He
had a good humor about it all and when I told him that I had talked to you
and that you were coming up to ride his bike for him, he said that was a lie
because you could not ride a big bike. He did not skip a beat. He is a good
man and I know you both had some adventures together just as it should be.

When I was driving in all the heat, I thought about us riding together out
there and how you used to ride it a lot when you worked out there.

People at Cookies work asked her why she did not stop me, and she told them
that when I called her to tell her I was going to get it, I probably had one
leg in the truck. She was right. I have paid some prices for doing it my way
and won a couple too.

See you soon.

Jerry